Another apartment building collapses in Egypt killing 3 lawyers

Another apartment building has collapsed in the city of Shoubra El-Khaima, just outside Cairo, killing three lawyers.

AP reports that the Bar Association’s branch in Qalyubia has said that the people who died were lawyers working in one of their law firms in the apartment block.

A neighbouring building has now been emptied as a precaution.

Building collapses in Egypt are a huge problem and happen at an alarming rate, on average every few months.

In July a six-storey apartment block collapsed after a demolition order was ignored, killing one person and injuring others.

READ: Egypt rights activist Hossam Bahgat’s trial postponed

The previous month five women died when an apartment block in Alexandria collapsed.

In March at least 25 people died and 75 were injured after a building in Gesr Suez collapsed.

A six-month-old baby survived but the baby’s mother, father and sister were found dead in the rubble.

In December 2020 an apartment block, also in Alexandria, collapsed killing several people.

Such frequent collapses are the result of lack of oversight and unauthorised, shoddy construction, such as buildings being constructed with wooden, rather than concrete, support.

Often, buildings are condemned but instead of pulling the building down and asking the residents to leave, the owners pay the police off with bribes.

Residents are often aware that their apartment buildings are unsafe but have nowhere else to go.